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Saturday, August 20, 2011

The long-drawn issue regarding the functioning of NGOs’ offices at the court and jail premises has finally be resolved and subsequently the lawyers ended their weekly strike after the government-formed committee informed them that they had shifted their offices to Gulistan-e-Jauher area.
The committee headed by Faroughe Naseem met the Karachi Bar Association’s office-bearers and formally announced that the NGOs have virtually stopped their legal aid operation at the jail premises and shifted their offices in Gulistan-e-Jauher.
President KBA Mohammed Aqil and General Secretary Haider Imam Rizvi told the media on Friday that the NGOs offices in jails have formally been closed down.

The committee also told them the process of collecting data would be completed within days following which these offices would be handed over to the Sindh government.
All the NGOs’ offices situated within the jail premises, including Special Prison for Women, Juvenile, Central Prison Karachi and Landhi jail have stopped functioning, Rizvi told The News.
The city lawyers had been observing weekly strike on Saturdays by not appearing in the courts in protest against the functioning of NGOs offices in jails.

Their offices were also functioning at the City Courts which were forcefully removed by the lawyers last month. Later, the lawyers decided to boycott legal proceedings on every Saturday until the NGOs’ offices were also removed from the jail premises.
In this connection, a petition was also filed in the Sindh High Court which stayed the functioning of NGOs offices but this too did not satisfy the lawyers who were demanding immediate removal of these offices. (The News)